AS the official election campaign ends today, the Filipino electorate is prepared to troop to the polling precincts tomorrow to cast their votes and elect national and local leaders who shall lead us for the next three years.
Although we will still have President Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay at the helm of national leadership no matter what the result of the midterm election, we shall have 18,022 national and local leaders with new and fresh electoral mandate to govern us.
Apart for the 12 senators we shall elect, we also have to choose a congressional and another partylist representatives for the House of Representatives who, hopefully, be our voice and face in the policy-making body.
At the local level, we shall elect 80 for provincial governors and vice governors, 766 for members of the provincial legislature, 138 for city mayors and vice mayors, 1,532 members of the city council, 1,496 municipal mayors and vice mayors, and 11,972 members of the municipal council.
In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao where elections have already been synchronized with national elections, the Filipino electorate will also have to elect one regional governor, one regional vice governor, and 24 regional assemblymen.
Many political pundits view this midterm election as a referendum for President Aquino and his administration’s leadership. That is why President Aquino has been vigorously campaigning for his candidates whom he hopes will help him push for his legislative agenda.
President Aquino is banking on his popularity to secure votes for his candidates since a significant win for his party would strengthen his grip of the nation as he enters the second half of his term. His term of office officially ends on June 2016.
This midterm election is also viewed as a “proxy war” between Vice President Binay and President Aquino’s former running mate, Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas, who are both eyeing the presidency come the May 2016 elections.
A vote for Aquino’s team from the national and local levels is a vote of confidence for status quo, while a vote for Binay’s team is a vote for change. If Binay’s allies dominate this election, it means he is a president in waiting.
So as we cast our votes tomorrow, let us keep in mind that whoever we vote for these national and local posts is a vote of confidence or a vote of rejection to the leadership of either President Aquino or Vice President Binay and whatever each stands for.
It’s just the way it is.
